This invention relates to the treatment of infection caused by parasites which infect monocytes/macrophages or neutrophils.
Liposomes are small fluid-filled lipid spheres composed of a bilayer of amphipathic lipids (e.g., phospholipids). Liposomes can be filled with a variety of molecules and because they are only partially permeable, they have been proposed as a means for targeting drugs directly to cells and thus avoid dilution or degradation of the drug in body fluids (See Ryman, Clinical Pharmacology 5:91, 1975; Davis et al., in Biological Approaches to the Controlled Delivery of Drugs, Juliano (ed.) New York Academy of Sciences, N.Y., 1987). The fact that for most part liposomes are unable to leave the general circulation has limited their application as a drug delivery system. Liposomes are generally removed from the circulation by cells of the reticuloendothelial system. This circulatory system is composed of monocytes/macrophages and other phagocytic cells which take up liposomes. This "passive" targeting of liposomes to mononuclear phagocytes has led to the suggestion that liposomes might be well suited to delivery of drugs to these cells (Kirsh et al., in Biological Approaches to the controlled Delivery of Drugs, Juliano (ed.) New York Academy of Sciences, N.Y., 1987).
C-reactive protein (CRP) is protein released by the liver in response to tissue damage.